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Published on Friday, April 21, 2017

Council rejects Rebecca Street over-development

Mayor calls project a bit too big for its site

Oakville Town Hall

By Nathan Howes, Oakville Beaver

Oakville residents living on Rebecca Street near Dorval Drive are breathing a sigh of relief after Town council voted April 18 against a development application.

A proposed development of a six-unit, multiple-attached residential project at 231 and 237 Rebecca St., east of Dorval Drive and Margaret Drive, on the north side of Rebecca, had area residents up in arms over the proposal. Those upset cited the design, which raised privacy concerns, to the project close proximity to nearby residences.

A Town staff report was at the April 18 Planning and Development council.

It outlined the Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment applications to allow the development of the multiple attached-dwelling units on the site.

The applications were received and deemed complete in September 2014.

However, following an outpouring of concerns from area residents and Town councillors, council voted to reject the applications.

After a lengthy discussion at the meeting, Ward 2 Town and Regional Councillor Cathy Duddeck made a last-minute plea for the application and staff recommendation to be denied.

She was supported by Mayor Rob Burton, and ultimately, by Council, in a recorded vote.

“I believe all of the problems we’ve heard here are generated from over-development of the site. It’s just a touch too big,” said Burton.

“I appreciate the candid admission that it is trying to maximize the building envelope and I think it over-maximized it.”

Were it approved, the Official Plan Amendment would have had to re-designate the property from low-density residential to medium-density residential — which didn’t sit well with residents attending the meeting.

It would have resulted in four additional residential units in the neighbourhood.

The motion was denied, despite planning consultant David Fay bringing forward concessions on behalf of the developer.

They primarily dealt with privacy challenges and included building an eight-foot-high wooden fence along the east property line, from the driveway to the north boundary of the site to provide screening from car headlights; as well as north-side buffering with at least 12-foot-high seeders covering the entire length and third-floor windows with linear designs, perched at least five feet above the floor, before the glass appears.

However, the client wouldn’t agree to reduce the number of units to five, as suggested by Burton, or add any further protective measures to the terraces.